A Collection of Stories That Aren't Worth Reading

Moon lit Madness

The light reflected off the moon pool, giving your bedroom at the compound a mystical feel. The smell of salt water and the lavender tea you had made earlier swirled together in the air and a record hummed quietly in the background. Normally this would have been heavenly, but tonight was different. The light seemed inadequate and the shadows dancing in the corners set your nerves on fire The salt water was too bitter and the lavender too sweet. Your gills flared, wishing to be in the water, but if you went in, you knew your lungs would burn.

You jumped out of bed, restless and headed towards the moon pool. You sat on the edge, your feet falling gently into the silky water. You laid back, your body pressed against the hard cement, the cold creeping through your t-shirt and shorts. You jumped when the elevator dinged, no one ever came to the basement and if they did, it wasn't to go to your room.

You were even more surprised when Wanda Maximoff stepped through the doors. You sat up and blinked, half to make sure you were hallucinating.

"Is everything...I mean, did you need something?" you asked tentatively. She just smiled and moved to sit next to you,

"I came to ask you just that. You're thoughts are very loud tonight." The slight accent she still had made your heart leap. When she'd first come, she'd been a bit hard to understand, but now her Sokovian roots barely made an appearance.

"I'm fine...can't sleep, that's all." She raised an eyebrow at you,

"You know I can hear your thoughts, right?" You looked down at your feet and watched rings from in the water as you moved them. Instead of saying anything else you allowed your thoughts to play like a movie.

"There's beauty in madness, don't you think," your mother hummed, fingers plucking a blood drenched rose from the flower bed. You stared at her, watching your blood drip down her fingers. Blood stained her barely human face, glossing over her thin lips, turning their midnight blue to an ominous purple. She twirled the stem of the rose between her claws, flicking blood onto her chest. She walked closer to you, tucking the flower behind your ear and you struck. The broken chains flew forward with your hand, smacking her with even more force. She fell to the ground, unconscious. Quickly and frantically you used a pile of chains in the corner to secure her, then moved to other side of the room, hugging your knees to your chest and pushing down the panic. It seemed like forever before her eyes opened again, landing on you immediately. You plucked the rose from behind your ear and moved towards her, placing it behind her.

"What are you going to do?" She sneered, her tone obviously mocking. You caught your reflection in the mirror before you turned back to your mother. You looked positively demented, eyes bright and unblinking, smile unusually wide. You weren't scared of her any more. Quite the opposite in fact.

"Isn't it obvious?" Your voice was high with an almost childlike innocence. You grabbed a knife from the table and turned to your mother once again.

"I'm going to go mad." You plunged the knife into her chest.

You look at Wanda, eyes shining with tears, ready to look at her and find her repulsed or worse, scared, seeing what you had done, and to your own mother none the less, but she didn't look the least bit afraid, in fact, she looked sad. She didn't say anything, just reached over and took your hand in hers. Her head fell to the side, resting against your shoulder. For a moment you were frozen. You let out a breath you hadn't known you were holding and dropped your head on top of Wanda's.

"Thank you."